Layers of a Wine Tour by Kevin Dowling

There have been many times in my life that I have become detached from skating. Whether I was mentally strained, physically unfit, focused on other ventures or just depressed about the direction of our culture, sometimes I have made the decision to step back and adjust my relationship to skating. For the past year, I have been working in the film industry which has provided me with the opportunity to support my family and work towards realizing larger goals that I bury deep in my mind under layers of fear, naivety and confusion. To be perfectly honest, when Jamie reminded me that we were supposed to go on a tour into the mountains for Footage Tape, I was completely turned off by the idea. Fuck skating. Fuck the lack of cool shit. Fuck the new guard and their elitist/rule book style of skating. Fuck the segregation of different styles of skating. Fuck wack media and spuds that attempt to be a “voice” for our community. Pulling back and paying attention from afar had shown me that I do not identify directly with what skating has become.

Maybe I was getting old? Was I mad that I wasn’t the voice? Did my lack of motivation to do tricks and stay relevant as a practitioner of skating bring about this disinterest? Either way I was dreading the idea of leaving my family to go skating for the weekend. Shit, I don’t even have a fucking video camera…

That’s it… This was a preview only. Read the full story in the upcoming Be-Mag print issue, coming out end of the year. Take a look at the great photos, all shot by Kevin and be sure there are some more awesome ones in the print article.